The Volkithar Dovakiin
by horob575
Summary: Layla has finally tired of the monotony of Castle Volkithar. So she leaves in hopes of finding where Valerica whisked her best friend Serana off to. Instead while she is passing by Dark Water Crossing she is captured and roped into a destiny that is long overdue. (I don't own Elder Scrolls, Bethesda does.)
1. Chapter 1

This was an idea of a different origin for the Dragonborn I had. I couldn't get it out of my head so I had to write it. I not sure if anyone else has tried this already. Anyway reviews and criticism are welcome.

Layla found herself staring at the dark stoned ceiling of Castle Volkihar during supper. She looked back at her goblet of blood. She took a sip as she looked around the dimly lit room. There were two long tables on each side of the massive hall with the head table sitting perpendicular to them. The whole room… no the entire castle oozed dark and evil. What else could one expect from a clan of vampires?

She sat on the left on right side toward the head were Orthjolf sat. The big brutish Nord was currently glaring at his nemesis, the High Elf, Vingalmo. She let out a bored sigh. When they first started their little war to overthrow Lord Harkon, it was amusing. As the century's rolled by, it just got monotonous because they never stopped trying to undermine each other. At first she found amusement by toying with them. She sabotaged their plans many times and they would instantly blame the other. It was fun until she realized that she was only adding to the problem and stopped.

She looked at the other side of her where Geran Merathi sat, the dark elf was currently looking over tasks which to assign the lesser court members while taking a sip from his own goblet. Geran was probably the only thing close to a friend she had in this place. While the others conspired against each other, Garen was one of the few who stayed out of politics and simply served Lord Harkon. He currently shook his and ran his fingers threw his blood red beard.

Layla then looked to see some the other members of the court enjoying their meals and talking amongst themselves… more like scheming she thought. Hestla, a nord woman and the castle blacksmith was boasting about her time in the Companions and how being here in this castle serving Lord Harkon was far better than trying to take the scraps the famous fighter's guild had given her. Feran Sadri, another dark elf and the castle alchemist was listening intently and trying to poke holes in the former Companion's stories.

Layla noticed that Harkon wasn't present and small wood elf had let his room carrying an empty tray, his hands shaking. Apparently, Lord Harkon took dinner in his room while obsessing over that stupid prophecy. Ronthil was a brown-noser, plain and simple. He would constantly ask the higher ranker vampires if he could be of assistance. It was annoying really, but Feran seemed to use him the most often when making potions. Grab this, and get that kind of stuff. Layla of course instilled a fear in him the few days after he first arrived. He has never gotten within five feet of her since if he didn't have to.

She leaned back and heard the clash of steel on wood as Fura Bloodmouth bashed a straw dummy with a sword. As the castle weapons master, she refused to be involved in politics as well. She was rather boring though. All she cared about was killing and that was all she talked about. It was rather tiresome after she spoke the woman for any length of time. Layla didn't know how her fellow Nord did it. How she went through life with such a single minded focus.

Layla herself was a Nord, auburn hair and pale skin, even paler since she turned. Being one of the original, or at least close to original members of the clan it was to be expected after all. She wasn't built like Hestla, not that it mattered much as vampires were very strong. She was smaller and more slender and beautiful than most. If anything becoming a vampire only added to it.

When Harkon was a mortal king in Atmora, her viper of a mother had tried to use her as way to move up the social ladder. While she didn't become Harkon's mistress like her mother intended, she did however get a position as Valerica's handmaiden, Harkon's wife. She sighed again, as thinking of Valerica brought forth thoughts of Valerica's daughter, Serana. Serana was beautiful and kind girl. Layla loved her, but the vampire princess only ever saw her as friend. It didn't help that Valerica was always watching her like a hawk whenever her daughter was around her. After Harkon became a vampire as well as Valerica and Serana. Valerica saw fit to reward Layla's service with the dark gift. She served loyally until the day Valerica disappeared taking Serana with her.

Layla needed to stop thinking about the old days, but it still hurt. The night Serana was taken,. Layla had planned to tell her how she really felt. She never got the chance. She got up and walked to Feran's alchemy room. She walked up the stairs where she found her enchanter in a small room that housed many soul gems of varying sizes. She had found her niche as the castle enchanter early on. The little scab, Ronthil was right about one thing, being useful was a good way to earn one's keep around the castle if you planned on being here long term. She knew things about enchanting that the world outside would die for to get their hands on. Of course she would venture the College of Winterhold to see if any breakthroughs were made every once in a while. In disguise of course, mage generally caught on quickly when she would cast a seduction spell upon them.

She heard someone enter. She turned around and saw Ronthil held a bundle of weapons and armor, that Hestla had made this morning. He sat set them in the corner and stood up, "Is there anything else you need Layla?" She didn't miss the quiver in his voice.

"No," was all she said before she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. He bolted from the room as she began her work. Each weapon and piece of armor was custom made for a particular court member. She was thankful for the amount of items she had to enchant. It would keep her busy for the rest of the day at least. She looked at the note that Hestla included as to see what enchantment each piece needed as she went.

**…**

As the years rolled by, and her monotonous routine became even more so. Her thoughts drifted to Serana more and more. One day she sat at the table, hoping that Serana would walk through the main doors and back into Layla's life. It was then she realized something, Serana is never coming back here. It was like getting smacked in the face by one of Hestla's warhammers. That left her one option. If Serana couldn't find her way back or did not wish to, Layla going to venture out and find her. It was not like she was terribly attached to this old decaying castle anyway or its inhabitants.

She stood up abruptly catching the attention of everyone in the room. They all stared at her. She gave a nod to Geran as she walked away from the table. She stopped by the armory, and gathered up supplies. Her armor consisted of studded leather armor with iron gauntlets and greaves. She donned an iron helm with goat horns sticking out either side to cover her eyes so the mortals could not mark her as undead straight off and to keep the sun off her head.

She grabbed a steel sword, and clipped its scabbard to her belt. She grabbed a glass dagger and placed in her boot. When she walked out everyone just looked at her funny. She gave a light wave and walked out the door. The cool Skyrim air greeted her as she walked down the castle ramp into the dingy that could get her across the harbor and to the mainland.

**…**

Skyrim hadn't changed much in since the first era after the Dragons were all killed. It was one the first things she figured out while exploring the land and seeing the people. She searched for clues to Serana's whereabouts and searched old ruins.

While searching the first ruin she had found an old word wall in the dragon tongue. She would have dismissed it if one of the words were not glowing. She remembered hearing strange chanting as she approached and was given an understanding of the word on a different level than before. She already knew the ancient tongue. She studied it back at the castle. This was different, like she felt its pulse more than its simple meaning.

While her search dragged on for a few years she had no idea that she was starting to build a reputation. Mostly she would trade what items she found inside the ruins at local villages. Soon word spread of new Ruin Delver, a successful one at that. As a vampire the attention was less than welcome, but because of her reputation people were more open to talk to her about locations of ancient Nordic burial sites. It was two sides of the same coin she guessed.

One day while passing through Dark Water crossing to reach Arcwind Point, she was caught in an ambush and captured along with some Stormcloaks by Imperial soldiers. She was knocked out quickly, and she woke in a cart heading toward the village of Helgen. She cursed herself for being so careless. However, that was when her day got really interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

Here is the new chapter. There might be some mistakes here there. Anyway reviews and criticism are welcome as always.

Layla ran to Riverwood with the two Nord men she had met there. Hadvar, a Legionary in the Imperial army and Ralof of the Stormcloaks. Their names were helpful as in her head she simply called them the Blond one and the brown-haired one prior to introductions. Layla shook her head. Two childhood friends on opposing sides of the war, it was one thing about Civil wars that made them so bloody, betrayal, or a feeling of betrayal. She had seen it plenty of times in Skyrim's history and it never changed. Speaking of change, dragons had returned to Skyrim. It only added to her problems since escaping Helgen.

Hadvar and Ralof stopped to look at Bleak Falls Barrow up on the mountain side across the river. Layla could have sworn they looked like young boys again staring at that foreboding place. She was actually waiting for one of them to dare the other to go up there. At least she got them to stop talking about the war. That was one of the most grating things that she ever went through. She almost just broke their necks and went on herself, but she opted to tell them there were more important things to worry about. They listened at least.

She cleared her throat, "I think we should move on to Riverwood." They both nodded and continued down the road to the village. Riverwood was your standard village. About a hundred folk living on the side of a river and there were many trees making the town name very much to the point. Town name aside she was introduced to Hadvar's and Ralof's relatives. Ralof's nephew took one look at her.

"You have creepy eyes," he pointed out. _Ah shit!_ Her thoughts screamed her to run or start breaking necks. Luckily, no one took heed of the boy's comment as they were preoccupied with the more recent and pressing issue of a freaking dragon attacking and burning Helgen to the ground. The boy's comment did give her the sense that it would be better to skip town a soon as possible. So when the issue of who would go and warn the Jarl came up, she immediately volunteered.

**…**

Layla took a moment to examine the city of Whiterun, it was the first she had seen it in hundreds of years. While she did leave the castle periodically to see any enchanting techniques had surfaced, her inquiry generally never led her far south, not past Morthal usually. So when she looked at Whiterun, she was surprised as its size mostly. What many people didn't know while the walls were very old, they were a new addition as the original wall never went past what was now called the Wind district. The "newer" wall must have been erected after the Jarl of Falkreath tried to sack the city. Layla was drawn from her thoughts as she heard the sound of battle. She took off and found three warriors fighting off a Giant. Two women, one a Nord and the other an Imperial and the third was a Nord man. While they had it under control she intervened anyway by running and jumping on the Creature's crest burying the imperial sword she looted of a dead legionary into its heart bringing down the giant.

After she wiped off her blade on the giants hide tunic, she was approached by the Nord woman. She was beautiful and had red hair with streaks of warpaint across her face. "Not bad, you would make for a decent shield…" she stopped and Layla smelled the reason why. At least two were werewolves from what she could discern. The two Nord women stared each other down. Uneasy silence was shattered as the man came and stood next to the other nord woman. He was a hulking brute and had a rugged haven't shaved for days look that worked well for him. If they didn't smell like dog then Layla might have been inclined to flirt.

What she could tell from their scent was that they were part of the same pack. Normally Layla didn't find werewolves much of a threat, but this breed was strong. With age came wisdom and Layla was old enough to know better than to tangle with these two. Layla sheathed her blade and nodded, "You were saying something about shields." She said before the young Imperial woman came up unware of the ancient blood feud she stumbled upon.

"Wow, you took that giant down pretty quick, I am sure we would have got it soon but your help is appreciated." The Imperial woman said.

Layla shrugged, "I just figured that the sooner it was brought down the better. I wasn't trying to show off, the giant just left himself open for attack and it wasn't expecting a third party to intervene."

"You seem like a good warrior, if you come to Jorvaskor I am sure you'll be let in, no problem." Layla didn't fail to notice the other two stiffen slightly at the mention of the Headquarters of the Companions. Useful information for later, dangerous too since they knew that she now knew that they were Companions.

Layla nodded uncertainly, "Maybe, but I have business I need to finish up. I doubt I'll get the chance."

"I am sorry to hear that, I guess goodbye for now," the young imperial woman walked away toward the city leaving her alone with the two werewolves.

She looked at them, "I won't say anything if you don't. I have business in Whiterun, so recommend letting your fellows know so there isn't a misunderstanding later. I have to go the Jarl with important business, so hopefully I'll out of town shortly."

The woman nodded in agreement and walked to the city in an uncomfortable silence.

**…**

Farkas was more than happy that Ria had gone on ahead of the trio. When he and Aela walked to the doors of Jorvaskor, they both let out breaths they had both been holding. "I'll tell the old man and Skjor," Aela said as she walked the their rooms. Farkas immediately sought out his brother. He found his twin practicing with Tobar, another Nord in the courtyard. "Tobar, I have circle business to discuss with Vilkas." The younger Nord grumbled and walked away to sit down and cool off while taking a swig of mead. Vilkas and Farkas walked to the end of the courtyard so they wouldn't be heard. "What is it brother? Something happen on the last job?" Vilkas asked. While they were twins, they weren't identical. Farkas was slightly taller and easily stronger. Vilkas wasn't as big, but could still wrestle down a saber cat if he had to, but relied upon his head more than his brother.

"Yes and no, there's a blood sucker in town." Vilkas seemed puzzled, "Ria was with us, even I know that killing a random person in front of a whelp will only lead to questions."

"But there is more to it otherwise you or Aela would have taken care of it later by yourselves and not even bothered to tell the rest of us." Vilkas said.

"This one is ancient, perhaps even a Coldharbor bitch. Don't ask how I know. You'll just have to be in her presence for a moment and your wolf will tell all you need to know." Farkas said while Vilkas rubbed his chin.

"If what say is true, than it may take the whole pack to deal with her if she becomes an issue." Vilkas shook his head in thought, "Did she mention any plans?"

"She stays out of our business if we stay out of hers. From the sound of it her time in Whiterun isn't long term. I let you know so you don't react to her if you pass by her in the street or something."

"Well hopefully your right and she is just passing through, otherwise she we'll be dealt with."

A/N: I am only going to have Layla be one of the following storyline's leaders as Harbinger, Guildmaster, Archmage, or Listener. I know in the game you can have your character be all of them, seriously who has that much time. Anyway I am mentioning this now so I can get more input as I write. I will put OC's in to fill the other roles. So just let me know and what you think.


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